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More to income story than meets eye

LOWELL -- In a world where most people see a glass half full (optimists), or people who see a glass half empty (pessimists), I've always seen the glass as overflowing.

I can't help it. I always look for the most positive element in any story or statistic, especially if it involves the city of Lowell.

So I was delighted when I saw a story in Commonwealth Magazine on median income per family in gateway cities.

Lowell is the fourth-largest city in the state, behind Boston, Springfield and Worcester.

I was impressed that Lowell beat Springfield by a wide margin and was ahead of Worcester on the family-income measure. Looking further, the city beat traditional gateway cities like Lawrence, Fall River and New Bedford by margins of between 33 percent and 44 percent.

Lawrence has been our twin city for more than 150 years. Both mill cities saw their populations soar between the 1840s to the 1930s.

The decline of the textile industry saw the two communities struggle for survival through then 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Since then, Lowell appears to have done a little better at reinventing itself. As I indicated last week, the success of Wang in the late 1970s and 1980s gave Lowell a big lift.

But I was really surprised to see the median income in Lowell 42 percent higher than Lawrence, 41 percent higher than Springfield, 46 percent higher than Fall River and 37.5 percent higher than Holyoke and 33 percent higher than New Bedford.

Pretty impressive, I thought.

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I was so pleased I had breakfast with City Manager Kevin Murphy and proudly shared the numbers. He too was impressed and that same day sent me an updated list. The list I had from the Commonwealth Magazine article was based on 2012 numbers. The manager had numbers from 2014 that had the city up to $49,164, up from $47,700.

Even better.

So I was surprised when I saw The Sun story on Wednesday with a negative headline and quotes from economic experts who still feel cities like Lowell have still been left behind in economic growth. Their point was if the city had kept pace, the number should be more like $75,000.

The Sun piece was written by our City Hall reporter Grant Welker, who I feel is one of the most balanced and factual reporters I have ever seen. He is not encumbered by my hometown cheerleading.

The truth is both sides are right.

The city of Lowell has done better than most gateway communities, in some cases considerably better. But as the other side points out, it's not good enough and still lags considerably behind other communities in the state.

While I admit to being an eternal optimist, I am also a realist. I'm happy to see the city moving the median income to $50,000.

The wide difference between Lowell and other traditional gateway cities says to me Lowell is working harder at lifting everyone up than most like cities.

What a great world it would be if Lowell had kept up with the state and had a median income of $75,000.

But if Lowell had not united to fight for an urban national park, to build an arena, attract a professional baseball team, help CrossPoint survive after the demise of Wang, get Route 3 widened, help UMass Lowell and Middlesex Community College grow, support the Hamilton Canal renewal, get state support for the new Judicial Center (groundbreaking scheduled in September) support quality public schools and now taking aggressive stands against absentee landlords who operate slums and tolerate drug operations, support quality live theater and the growth of the arts community, the city would be down with other cities, $15,000 lower.

So I want to enjoy the moment and thank all those who dream big and make good things happen.

The city has made all this happen while not forgetting its role as a community that continues to welcome people escaping from terror in the Middle East and Africa.

We have already seen that second and third generations from Cambodia are making it in America and doing well in the job market, the professional world and public service.

I did the Lowell walk on Saturday that was led by Yun Ju Choi and Dave Ouellette. Yun Ju runs the Coalition for a Better Acre and Dave has been an active leader for the Acre for many years.

The Acre was regarded by many as the poorest, most dangerous area of the city.

But what they have accomplished I think has taken the Acre off the worst list.

Part of the tour was the Old St. Joseph's High school, which the agency converted to affordable apartments.

We toured one of the units where a family of three lived in a beautiful two-bedroom unit that rented for $1,100 a month. Both parents work and the daughter is attending Middlesex Community College. About 85 percent of the units are occupied by working families who have a safe affordable place to live.

The good news is the agency has created 400 units like that in the city and pays taxes. Their tax bill last year was $650,000.

What they are doing and what UMass Lowell has done for that neighborhood is rapidly changing the face of Lowell.

So maybe what has been done, hasn't been enough. But what if all the progressive things had not been done?

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